Pumpkin Patch
by StrawberryBunnyLove
Summary: Purin and Tart get a pumpkin to carve for Halloween. However, once they've carved it, they keep hearing banging sounds around the house. What could it be?


**Happy Halloween! I wrote this one-shot a little while ago and decided to put it up for this day. I hope you like it! It's not much but I thought it was kinda cute.**

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Purin was dressed warmly in a dark brown zip-up hoodie that had monkey ears on the hood, yellow lace around the pockets, and yellow ribbon through the hood over a yellow dress that had a puffy skirt with orange tulle poking out from the bottom, thick white cotton thigh-high socks, and black ankle-high boots that had yellow laces. Accompanying her was Taruto, dressed in a red shirt that had white and black striped long sleeves, dark colored jeans, and red Converse sneakers. Pai sat on a nearby bench, also dressed his own human clothes, reading a book. They were in a large pumpkin patch, looking for the perfect pumpkin to carve for Halloween, which was only a few days away. Pai had only gone along to keep an eye on to two and make sure they stayed out of trouble. He also carried the money they needed to pay for said pumpkin.

"Look at this one, na no da!" Purin ran up to a rather large pumpkin that had a big green stem and green vines tangled all around it. She squatted down in front of it, playing with the vines.

"Yeah, that one's pretty cool," Tart said as he walked through the patch, "but look at this one!"

Purin stood up and twisted to look at him, but he wasn't anywhere she could see. "Tar-Tar?" She called. She started walking, weaving through the pumpkins, looking for him. "Where did you go, na no da?" Pai glanced up and saw his little brother crouched behind a pumpkin with a wicked grin on his face. Seeing that there was nothing to worry about, he went back to his book.

Purin started walking towards Pai, "Pai-oniichan, did you see where Tar-Tar went, na no da?" She asked. He remained silent, knowing what the boy was up to.

"Aaaarrgh!" Tart jumped out from behind the pumpkin with his fingers curled in the air and the scariest face he could think up.

Purin blinked at him and then grinning, "Tar-Tar, let's play hide-and-seek, na no da!"

Tart pouted in disappointment, "I was trying to scare you!"

"Awww!" Purin jumped at him and hugged him around the neck, "Tar-Tar, you're so spooky, na no da!" She said, trying to make him feel better about his failed plan. She let him go and darted through the pumpkin patch. "Now hide your face and start counting to twenty, na no da!"

Tart hid his face in his hands, crouched and faced a pumpkin, "1...2...3...4..."

Purin dashed around, looking for the perfect hiding spot. She decided on the small garden shack on the opposite side of the patch from where Pai sat on the bench. She ducked into a bush that hadn't yet caught up to the autumn season. Although dead leaves had been crunching under her feet while she ran, she was confident she had found a good spot. She giggled to herself, curled up behind the bush.

"15...16...17...18...19...20! Ready or not, here I come!" Tart shouted. He jumped up, scanning his eyes over the pumpkins with determination. He didn't see her anywhere. He had heard leaves being stepped on, but couldn't tell where exactly from. He carefully stepped through the vines and pumpkins, trying to make as little sound as he could so she hopefully wouldn't hear him coming. Her one fault at hide-and-seek was that she had a tendency to giggle a lot and give away her place. He was making his was towards the back of the patch, near the small shack. He circled it and stood by a row of bushes along the back, scratching his head as he wondered she could've gone off to in a pumpkin patch. Pai had specifically stated that they were to stay within the patch grounds, so he knew she was at least still on the property. Right?

"Tee hee...!" He heard muffled giggles coming from his right. He smirked, realizing where she had hidden herself.

"Hmmm..." He hummed dramatically, clasping his hands behind his back, and taking exaggerated steps in a circle. "I wonder where Purin could have run off to." More muffled giggling. He smirked and looked at the bushes from the corner of his eyes, "I think I might go ask Pai," he said louder than he really needed and moved his foot out as though he were going to take a step forward -more muffled giggles- but instead pounced into the bushes and tackled Purin to the ground.

She squealed and giggled loudly, grinning brightly, "Tar-Tar won, na no da!"

"Yeah, I did!" Tart exclaimed and started tickling her, digging his fingers into her sides. She cried with laughter, squirming around on the crunchy leaf covered ground.

"Ahem," They both looked up to see Pai standing above them on the other side of the bushes, "I would appreciate it if you would hurry up and pick out a pumpkin already. I would like to get home."

"Yeah, we should get our pumpkin, na no da!" Purin said cheerfully, still underneath Tart, "Purin wants to carve a cute face on it, na no da!"

Tart blushed at the fact that he was on his hands and knees over her and got to his feet, helping her up as well, "yeah, let's go find one now." Purin brushed the dirt and debris off of herself and grabbed Tart's hand as she ran out of the bushes, around the building, and back into the pumpkin patch.

Pai went back to the bench. Tart and Purin carefully inspected each and every pumpkin, wanting to find the absolute perfect one. It took them a little bit. This one had too many scratches, that one wasn't orange enough, the other one had a broken stem. And then they found it. It was almost too big for Tart to carry, perfectly orange, and had a long fully-intact stem with just a bit of green vine curling around the top.

"I love it, na no da!" Purin squealed, jumping excitedly, as they carried it over to Pai.

"This one!" Tart said, setting it on the bench next to his brother but keeping his arms around it. He grinned up at him and Pai raised an eyebrow down at the pumpkin.

"You are set on this one?" Pai asked.

"Yes, yes, yes, na no da!" Purin exclaimed, bouncing on her toes.

"Alright," Pai reached into his jeans pocket and pulled out Tart's money, handing it to Purin. He had been holding it, afraid that Tart would lose it while playing, and Purin was the only one who could actually purchase the pumpkin because of her human ears. She gratefully took it and dashed through the patch towards the shack. She knocked on the door and waited for the caretaker to answer.

She stood with her hands clasped behind her back and a smile on her face. Moments later, a tall elderly man with mousy white hair and soft blue eyes answered the door. "Have you picked a pumpkin out, miss?"

"I have, na no da!" Purin chirped.

"That'll be nine-hundred seventy-five yen, please," the man said.

"Here you go!" Purin happily handed over the money.

"Thank you," the man said, "will you be alright getting it home?"

"I will, na no da," Purin said, twisting her hips back and forth, "I have Tar-Tar and Pai-oniichan with me!"

The old man looked up and saw the two boys by the bench at the far end of the patch. It was too far away to make out any details about them. He smiled down at Purin, "alright, then, have a nice Halloween."

"You too, na no da!" Purin waved and bounced down the steps, hearing the door close behind her.

She made her way back to Pai and Tart. Pai picked up the pumpkin and the trio was teleported to outside of Purin's house. Pai set it on the kitchen floor, said his goodbyes, and left. Tart and Purin kicked their shoes off in the entryway and grabbed some newspaper from the little table by the door. They spread it out underneath the pumpkin.

"How do we carve a pumpkin?" Tart asked, knocking his right hand knuckles on it.

Purin rummaged through one of the drawers in the counter, "with this, na no da!" She pulled out a large, shiny knife. She squatted down to grab something from the cupboard under the drawer. She pulled out a big plastic bowl and set it next to the pumpkin.

"Purin will teach Tar-Tar how to carve a pumpkin, na no da," she said. "First you have to cut off the top so you can take out all the guts, na no da!" She slowly and carefully cut a circle into the top of the pumpkin and pulled it off. They both looked in.

"Ew..." Tart mumbled with an amused smile.

"Stick your hand in, na no da," Purin said, grinning at him.

Tart rolled up his sleeved and plunged his hand into the gooey orange guts of the pumpkin, sticking his tongue out, "this feels really weird." He took out a handful, "what do I do with it?"

"Put in the bowl, na no da," Purin instructed. She unzipped her hoodie and took it off, letting it sit around her hips on the floor. She plunged her own hand in and scooped out a handful.

"Why do humans do this, anyway?" Tart asked as they continued scooping out the guts.

"A long time ago, Halloween was called Samhain, na no da," Purin explained, "and people believed that spirits roamed the realm of the living on the night of October 31st, na no da. And they believed that carving a pumpkin to put on the doorsteps of houses with a candle inside would keep the baddies away, na no da."

"Why?" Tart asked, sounding like he didn't think it made any sense.

"Purin doesn't know, na no da," she answered with a smile, "but she still thinks it's a fun tradition!"

"Do you really think this'll keep bad spirits away?" Tart asked.

"Purin believes it helps, na no da!" Purin said.

They washed off their hands found a black marker in the living room that Purin used to draw a face onto the pumpkin. "Tar-Tar should carve the face, na no da!"

"Okay," Tart gladly took the knife as Purin held the pumpkin still. He carefully cut along the lines she had drawn and popped the pieces out one by one. When he finished, he looked scooted back to look at his and Purin's creation proudly. It was a cute monkey face.

_Bang._

They paused and looked up at each other.

"What was that?" Tart asked.

"Purin's brothers are at a sleepover, na no da, and Heicha-chan is out with Sensei," Purin said, more so she could rule them out as suspects than anything else.

_Bang._ They both jumped, startled.

Purin stood up and tossed the knife in the sink, "Purin is gonna go see what it is, na no da."

"By yourself?" Tart asked, although it was more because he didn't want to be left alone with thoughts of bad spirits coming into the house.

"Tar-Tar should come too, na no da!" Purin said happily, "we can have an investigation! I think it came from this way, na no da." She said excitedly, her small feet quickly padding out of the kitchen and into the living room.

"Wait up!" Tart said, getting to his feet. He caught up and made sure he was right behind her.

The only room in the house that had a light on was the kitchen, where they had been working. The rest of the house was dark. The pair slowly walked through the living to the hallway, poking their heads into each room to see if something had fallen or if an intruder was wandering about. So far, they had found nothing.

"What if it was a ghost?" Tart asked, trying his best not to look concerned.

"That would cool, na no da!" Purin chirped, "maybe he'd be a nice ghost, like Casper."

"Who's Casper?" Tart asked, raising an eyebrow.

"The friendly ghost, na no da," Purin said, as if that explained everything. Tart was still confused but didn't press the matter.

_Bang._

"This way, na no da!" Purin grabbed Tart's wrist and bolted for the bathroom. She all but kicked the door open to see...nothing. She put a fist on her hip and cocked her head to the side, "that's weird, na no da, Purin could've sworn it was coming from in here."

_Bang._

Both Tart and Purin's eyes went wide at hearing the noise still coming from the bathroom. "Bathroom ghost, na no da!" Purin screamed as she ran back towards the kitchen, Tart hot on her heels.

"I thought you said it'd be cool if there was a ghost!" He exclaimed.

Purin skidded to a stop in the living room and grabbed a small white candle from the eating table and continue running for the kitchen. Tart, having the same idea, was already there with a box of matches he had found on the counter. He fumbled with the match he was trying to light, not used to the strange fire sticks. When he finally got one to light, he quickly went to light the candle Purin held in her hands.

_Bang._ It was getting closer.

"Come on, come on, light!" Tart mumbled. Purin kept glancing from the candle to the doorway and they both looked scared and desperate for it to light.

_Bang._ Closer still.

The wick caught fire and Purin plopped it into their jack-o-lantern and they both crouched low behind it, keeping their eyes glued to the doorway.

_Bang._

A shadow ran across the living room.

_Bang._

Purin and Tart huddled close to each other, both keeping their hands on the pumpkin.

_Bang._

"BOO!"

They both screamed, flinging themselves backwards against the counter cupboards, holding up their orange protection. "Purin has a jack-o-lantern, na no da!" Purin shouted. And then they heard laughing. They both blinked and lowered the pumpkin to see someone pulling a white sheet off of their head.

"You guys are too easy!" Kisshu said, grinning.

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**Once again, happy Halloween. Review please and candy for all of you! *throws candy around for readers to catch***


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